McCain Regrets Use of Term 'Tar Baby'

AP via SFGate ^ | 3/16/7 | LIZ SIDOTI

[SmithL]

Cedar Falls, Iowa (AP) -- Republican presidential contender John McCain on Friday used the term "tar baby," considered by some a racial epithet, and later said he regretted it.

Answering questions at a town hall meeting, the Arizona senator was discussing federal involvement in custody cases when he said, "For me to stand here and ... say I'm going to declare divorces invalid because of someone who feels they weren't treated fairly in court, we are getting into a tar baby of enormous proportions and I don't know how you get out of that."

After the event, McCain told reporters: "I don't think I should have used that word and I was wrong to do so."

The senator said he hoped it wouldn't be viewed as a racial remark. He argued that he was trying to say that it wouldn't make sense for him to have a role in something left to the courts.

Last summer, a top McCain rival, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, apologized for referring to the troubled Big Dig construction project in Boston as a "tar baby" during a fundraiser in Ames, Iowa.

The term dates to the 19th century Uncle Remus stories, referring to a doll made of tar that traps Br'er Rabbit. It has become known as a way of describing a sticky mess and has been used as a derogatory term for a black person.

[doodad]

Go Randall!

I too grew up largely in the South with my Mother's family southern. We all knew and enjoyed the Uncle Remus stories and I have never heard a tar baby equated with a black person. Many other words mind you, but not that one. We reads that story in school blacks and whites.

But you would not hear those words from my family though; my grandmother would slap you if you disrespected other people, regardless of color that were good people. Although they both used the term nigra even in front of blacks who had no problem. Go figure.

[doodad]

Sorry read. Too much editing.

[G Larry]

When are we going to stop apologizing for imagined offenses?

[msnimje]

If Tar baby is of limits what can we use instead?

Sticky Infant?

[Homer1]

So the MSM gave him a pass on saying "gook" but persecutes him for "tar baby." I guess John McFake has learned what a fickle friend the MSM can be. He served his purpose at the time, and now they can toss him out into the trash.

[Dante3]

I wouldn't have guessed that McCain is this big a wimp. He lost big with his apology. Didn't he learn anything from what happened to Allen when he started apologizing?

[pray4liberty]

When are these guys going to grow a spine. They have to stop allowing themselves to be bullied by the newspapers and the Left. Say what you think and to hell with them! NO apologies!

[RoseD]

Excuse me????

[antiunion person]

pussy. oops, I regret using that term

[RatsDawg]

is this McCains Macaca! LOL

[ladyjane]

The list of bad words grows:

niggardly
evacuee
tar baby
tar and feather
macaca

Some people can't help themselves. They open their mouths and advertise their ignorance.

BTW, people did get tarred and feathered in the past. But it wasn't in the south. It was in New England in the 17th century and the victims were white.

[Dante3]

*Monkey - at least one person got into trouble for using that word.

Also words that Ann Coulter used - but those don't really count because she refused to apologize.

[bboop]

tar baby, tar baby, tar baby -- come and get me. I'm going to add that to the list of words I MUST use every day.

[bboop]

Bre'r Rabbit is FAMOUS. We studied it in English Lit. I also saved Little Black Sambo. I am sorry, I REFUSE to knuckle under to these knuckle heads.

[ladyjane]

You're right.

Adding to the list:

niggardly
evacuee
tar baby
tar and feather
macaca
faggot
monkey

[Political Junkie Too]

This again?

"Tar baby" was never a racial epithet. It wasn't until Tony Snow used the phrase in one of his first press conferences that the uneducated White House Press Corps assumed it to be racially insensitive because tar is black.

"Tar baby" actually comes from the Uncle Remus stories of Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit. It was never a racial epithet, and it should not be allowed to be turned into one by illiterates.

-PJ

[TigersEye]

Political Correctness sure is a tar baby these days.

Is it still OK to say "jelly spine?"

[silentreignofheroes]

You and me both...!

[Dante3]

What about "water buffalo"? A U. of Pennsylvania student from Israel was trying to study and called those making a lot of noise water buffaloes and the university reprimanded not those causing the disturbance but him for daring to use this term.

[ReignOfError]

My very PC boss once told me I should not use the phrase "tar baby" because it came from a time when African-American infants were tarred and feathered.

Horse feathers. That's right up there with the imaginary etymology of "picnic." The point of tarring and feathering was to so humiliate someone that he would have to leave town, and there's no real point in humiliating an infant.

The original tar baby was from the Uncle Remus stories, illustrated by Walt Disney at left -- it was a trap set for Bre'r Rabbit by Bre'er Fox, and the harder he fought, the more he was stuck. It was the 19th century version of the dreaded Q-word, a quagmire.

The term was later used to refer to racist stereotypes like the one at right, synonymous with Sambo or Wog.